Recovering film and sheet markets have spurred Macro Engineering & Technology Inc. to expand its floor space by 40 percent.
The Mississauga, Ontario, equipment supplier has seen sales grow in the past three months after a letdown in most of 2009. The firm again is at sales levels that set a record in 2008.
“There is freeing up of money for capital purchases,” Macro sales and marketing coordinator Andrew Erskine said in a telephone interview.
Erskine said his firm now is working on more than 20 major film and sheet projects. It needs the extra space in a nearby building for setting up and testing machinery prior to shipment. Erskine estimated Macro's total space at about 85,000 square feet.
Macro has been hiring to keep up with the sales spurt. It has increased its employee base by 15 percent since December and now employs 100-125. Recent hires are mainly mechanical engineers and project engineers. The employment hike more than offsets a decline in 2009.
Erskine said sales growth has been broad-based and includes multilayer blown film lines, custom-built winders and specialty extrusion systems. Orders are also geographically broad, with shipments destined for Europe, South America, China, Canada and the U.S.
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